Three days before the start of the 23rd Olympic Winter Games, nearly three dozen Russian athletes on Tuesday filed a last-minute appeal to have their doping bans lifted so they can compete in Pyeongchang.
In all, 32 Russian athletes filed their appeals with the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
In December, the International Olympic Committee banned the entire Russian Olympic team -- preventing them from competing under their national flag. The IOC has allowed some Russian hopefuls to compete neutrally as "Olympic athletes from Russia."A hearing in the matter is scheduled for Wednesday.
Among those appealing to compete are speed skater Viktor Ahn and biathlete Anton Shipulin.
"It is outrageous that there is no concrete reason which explains my exclusion from the Olympics, and furthermore people now view me as an athlete who used doping," Ahn wrote in an open letter to IOC President Thomas Bach last month.
The battle to compete may not be over even if the court upholds the appeals.
The IOC can still refuse to accept the athletes, like it did Monday, when the Olympic body blocked a similar request from 13 Russian athletes and two coaches who were cleared for Pyeongchang by the tribunal last week.
The CAS overturned bans for the 28 Russian athletes last week, citing insufficient evidence to show that certain Russian athletes had broken anti-doping rules.
